The newly opened The Salad Bar & Walnut Cafe near Vashi station is the most recent inclusion to the ever-growing number of eateries in Navi Mumbai. Barely a month old, the restaurant seems to have attracted a lot of attention. Curious, we dropped by on a Saturday night to see what the buzz was about. Located on the first floor of Haware Infotech Park, this L-shaped cafe can accommodate up to 50 diners. The interiors were minimalist; the glass wall panels offers a picturesque view of the Vashi skyline, especially at night.

Grilled Fish

The menu is contemporary comprising soups, sandwiches, wraps, quick bites, meals, beverages and desserts. Not surprising, The Salad Bar & Walnut Cafe also offers a wide selection of salads, with ample options for vegetarians as well as meat eaters. Weight-watchers have the option to choose and pick ingredients and make their own salad. Armed with recommendations by our knowledgeable attendant, Shiva, who answered our every query about the dishes, we started with Arugula Curried Chicken Salad (Rs 285) and a vegetarian detox salad.

Arugula Curried Chicken Salad

The Arugula Salad was tossed with lettuce, arugula, water chestnut, carrot, bean sprout, glass noodles, curried chicken and orange zest. The orange-carrot vinaigrette dressing complemented the salad perfectly. Perhaps, the only downer with the multi-ingredient salad were the glass noodles, which we felt could have been left out.

The Detox Salad (Rs 235) had a lot of veggies and went well with a light lemon-ey dressing. To beat the summer heat, we sipped on a watermelon refresher (recommended), a combination of watermelon, orange and lemon juice. Grilled Chicken Sausages (Rs 125) arrived next, served with a portion of house salad on the side. The garlic bread (Rs 105) complimented it well; however, less pepper would have made us relish the sausages even more.

Then came the showstopper — our main dish — Grilled Fish (basa) served with veggies and mashed potato (Rs 385). The fish was grilled to perfection, while the chilli coriander sauce garnished with fresh herbs on top gave it an aromatic twist. It was one of the best-grilled dishes we've savoured. Expectedly, the Pasta Creamy Tomato with Chicken (Rs 300), which we ordered with the fish, got lost in the euphoria of the fish dish.